Has It Been Two Weeks? My Birthday and Texas Trip #5

Today is David’s birthday – “Happy Birthday, Dave!”

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I can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since I’ve posted.  It just goes to show you that without structure, I am wandering aimlessly.  (Do I need to do Project 365 to actually keep a blog??)

Two days after my last post – it was my birthday and the present I gave myself was a trip to Texas to see Kale and Kayla.  I went ALONE.  I flew alone.  Did you hear that? And I did it without nerve medicine. Haha!

Before I left, I knew I needed some Maddie time, so I picked her up from daycare  (there’s nothing better than hearing her scream “Mémère” when she sees me come in the door!) and off we went to Wal-mart.

When you live in the sticks, travel isn’t all that “convenient”.  It takes three hours to get to the airport.  The flight from Little Rock to Houston is only an hour or so… unless you get a plane with THESE…

…then, it takes about two hours. Ha!

Kale picked me up from the airport and shortly after we got home, Kayla got off work. I miss them SO much, they are always a sight for sore eyes! We went to eat at a really neat little "family" cafe (Eden Cafe) and I got chicken pot pie.  I haven’t had that in forever and it was so good! (I crunched up my crust before getting a picture. Ha!)

After supper, the “kids” gave me my birthday gift – an iPad2!!

It was a hard gift to accept, but I pretty much ran with it after I got over being overwhelmed!

All in all, it was one of the best birthdays ever! (That’s saying a lot when you get to be my age.)

I’ll post more about my trip tomorrow.  Until then,

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Dear Maddie,

Look what Mémère got for you!

The Commute

Does your ride to work look like this?  Only in the country …

…and right after he turned off, look who pulled out in front of me…

Today’s average rate of speed on the way to work – 20 mph.

The End of a Long Stretch

This little girl and I took a drive to pick up this little girl…

I haven’t seen her since Wednesday and it seemed like forever!!

Of course, we had to stop for a slush. Haha!

Celebrating Cortney

The Goulets had another reason to get together and celebrate today.  My brother Kevin’s (#10)  oldest daughter, Cortney, is graduating from high school next weekend!

Cortney is a BEAUTIFUL girl, inside and out.  It seems like just yesterday she was a little bitty baby. 

We love you and wish you all the best in life, Cortney!

Mother’s Day 2011

By the time we got home last night, Maddie wasn’t feeling very well.  I gave her a bath and afterwards she said in a pathetic little voice, “Miss Jacquie, my head hurts.”  So, we left her with Dave and Tyler and Daisy and I went to get her some medicine.  When we got back, this is what we came home to… out like a light - so sweet.

I know I’m way too old to STILL want babies, but I got to sit right behind THIS in church this morning…

Isn’t he the most adorable thing?? I seriously wanted to just hold him.

I hope y’all had a happy Mother’s Day.  I am always so thankful for my mother.  She really is the model mom.  I’ve never heard her say an unkind word about anyone and she is the most submissive wife and sacrificial mother you will ever find.  (I didn’t get all those character traits, unfortunately.)  I am so thankful that God chose her to be my mother.

I’m also SO thankful for my boys… and the women God has placed in their lives.  They always make me feel special and loved – they know my love languages.

Last night, Tyler, Daisy and Maddie gave me an early Mother’s Day/Birthday gift.  A little book they made.  I LOVE it and it was just so thoughtful!! (Here are a few of the pages)

We’ve had a lot of really significant and special moments in the past year …

…and they captured so many moments for me to remember always.

I started crying when I got to this page – our first time getting to take care of Maddie.

Getting Maddie’s nails done for her birthday.

Flying to Texas – Maddie’s first flight

Loved this page!

This has been a really meaningful weekend for the Goulets… and getting to finish it off with a wonderful Mother’s Day has heaped blessing upon blessing.

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19 NIV)

Family Day!

My day started out really good.  After coffee with Dave, I spent most of the morning at home catching up on some R&R.  I was still in my robe after my shower and talking on the phone with Kale when the UPS man pulled up in the yard.  After freaking out, I put on some pajama pants (they were turquois to my hot pink robe) and went out to meet him.  I apologized for the pj’s and he was sweet enough to tell me that’s what weekends are for! Ha! Then he handed me this Mother’s Day gift from Kale and Kayla.  Look what “Brown” can do for you!!! YUM!

Later in the afternoon David and I headed up to my parent’s house for a large (isn’t it usually) family get-together.  My sister, Suzanne’s (#3) daughter from New Mexico had come in and most of us were able to go up to visit. 

There is always so much going on that it’s hard to get very good photos, but here are some that I took.

Kristin (#11), and my nieces - Sophia and Rebecca

Erik entertaining Daisy and Tyler

Darren (#7) and one of his sweet grands (Abby)

Kristin and Sophia

My dad’s golf cart gets a lot of “use” when the kids are around.

Suzanne (#3) and her kids (Jennifer, Rebecca and Brandon) and sweet little Maggie – adorable!!

Maddie Moo was looking especially cute today, too.

When we were there, we got word that my nephew, Cory (my brother Jim’s (#2) son) was in a motorcycle accident.  I’m not clear on all the details, but his grandma told me that somehow he rolled himself out the way and the oncoming truck just missed him and ran over his motorcycle – totaling it.  He was released from the hospital this evening and is pretty banged up – but okay.  So many of you prayed – thank you for that! I know that God was watching over him.

Nurse Moo

Maddie climbed up in Dave’s lap tonight and discovered a “boo boo” on his head.

She let him know that it was there and went right to work “doctoring” it.  I think she spent about 30 minutes going back and forth and getting cotton pads wet and “cleaning” it. 

She was so tender and gentle.

He told her she was going to make quite a nurse someday.

Picture Day, Final Four, and A Goodbye

Daisy sent me a “good morning picture” this morning.  Someone was looking pretty cute for “school picture day” today!! Love that girl!

I was VERY happy with the Idol results tonight! My prediction is James and Haley in the finals.  We’ll see…

On a sad note, Jodi had to have her dog, Mercury, put down today. He was almost 16 years old.  This has been a really hard decision for Jodi and I know she’s going to miss him.  Merc has been there for almost half of the years we’ve been BFFs!! Sad day.

My Co-Worker, A Birthday, Idol, and Kids Say…

Look who got to go to work with me this morning.  She had her “annual” at the vet today, so she got to spend the morning under my feet at my desk.  I think she’d like to go with me every morning.

Today is my sister’s 50th birthday!! Happy Birthday, Val-face (#4)!! I’m not too far behind you.

Wow! Tonight’s Idol was amazing!! James won me over emotionally and Haley, in my opinion, had the best performance for “House of the Rising Sun”.  It was crazy good!!  This season, I have wished over and over that we could just vote for the one we want to go home… it would be so much easier!

I have to tell you this story from church tonight.  It cracked me up.  I had just finished story time and was making small talk with the kiddos (3s, 4s, and 5 year olds). Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed one of the little girl’s dad had come to the door to pick her up.  About that time the kids started talking about being scared and climbing in bed with their parents.  I asked them who sometimes sleeps with their mommies or daddies and a few hands shot up.  One little girl said, “I do, on Friday nights!” Ha!  Then, I asked, “A” – who is better at cuddling? Your mom or your dad?” She answered, “My dad, but I HATE his breath!!”  It was SO funny!!

I Don’t Even Know How To Title a Post Anymore

I am SO used to counting my posts and now that I have no direction at all, I’m at a loss. Haha!

I know y’all were wondering what I might post about today – I’ve been wondering that myself.  Today has been a pretty typical day except for we actually saw the sun shining today!  (It seems like it’s been forever!)  Everything is really green and overgrown now and having a sunny day was so refreshing.

The makeovers on Biggest Loser were SO good … but the girls were AMAZING!  (I love Tim Gunn, too. I know my Mom doesn’t think so, but he reminds me of my grandpa.) 

I’m on a “youversion” kick right now.  Jodi showed it to me on Sunday morning.  It’s a free Bible app on the web (www.youversion.com) or for mobile devices.  I installed it on my iPhone and have been playing with it ever since.  It has all the Bible versions as well as reading plans that you can choose from.

What phone app can you NOT live without??

365–This Time It’s For Real

So this really is my 365th post for Project 365.  I may have some perfectionist traits and let it totally bother me that I skipped a post number.  I may have gone back and corrected them to the right numbers. Can you say OCD?

It has rained here pretty much all day again today.

It just keeps coming.

I got excited when I opened my mailbox today and these were in there!!

These are THE BEST workout socks in the world.  They are cushiony!! And you can run in them and sweat like a hog and then take your shoes off and lo and behold – they stay dry! Amazing!!  They’re not easy to find around here… I have to drive a couple of hours to get them, so when I found these in bulk on eBay, I was thrilled!

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Today has been an interesting news day.  I am ever so grateful to our military for the work they do to protect us and to rid our world from the threats we face.  Bin Laden was an evil man, and while I am thankful he is gone, I’m also aware there is someone who is more than ready to take his place.  He is only one.  His death doesn’t make me feel “safer”.  There is only One who’s death changed my life, sealed my security, and gives me hope! 

I am committed to praying for God’s hand of protection over our servicemen and women daily as they remain in harm’s way defending this great Country!  I say “thank you” from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of them today and every day.

“For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways…” (Psalm 91:11)

364–Women of Joy–Day 3 and I DID IT! (Updated)

We got up bright and early again this morning for our final day at WOJ.

Our speaker was Lisa Harper and she was so good. God allowed her to really speak to my heart and it was probably the message I needed most this weekend.

When we got out of the conference, it was already raining (again) and it was getting cold.  So, after stopping at just one store, we headed for home.  But, what a fun weekend.

I DID IT!  It is so hard to believe that I actually finished Project 365 - a post and photo a day for a whole year!  (It even amazes me. Ha!)  I STILL don’t know where I will go from here.  They say you develop a habit after three weeks, but somehow I don’t think taking a picture and writing a post a day has become a “habit” yet.  But, I have enjoyed the journey and I have enjoyed being able to look back and see what I was doing throughout the year.

UPDATE:
As I “wrapped up” my Project 365, I realized I got off a post somewhere (it was #141).  So, I stand corrected and y’all will have one more post. Haha! Bless your hearts…